Just the world through my eyes, in some pictures and some lines

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Well, it looks like I’ve taken too deep of a breath while relaxing after this semester, and have fallen off the grid a little with my blog. Sorry! So to make up for it a little, I thought I would share some of my favorite photographs from my alternative processes class this semester.

I have to say, if I haven’t already, this was my favorite class I took this semester, possibly my favorite that I will take while at MICA. Just having the resources to learn about different processes, and then not having to buy the chemicals and try to deal with them in my less than acceptable home set up was pretty amazing. I’m considering auditing this class again because I loved it so much, but we’ll see — the rest of my “MICA career” seems like it’s going to be a little crazy.

One of the things we learned about was the Van Dyke process. I’ve experimented with a similar process in the past, Kallitype, which I came to learn is basically the same process, with just a slight difference in chemistry. At least I had a little heads up with what I was going to be working with, which was good. This chemistry is nothing to mess with — I messed up before, luckily just a little, but my hands were stained brown in little spots for about a week. Come to find out, it can last much longer than that, so I got off easy.

Since I was stuck on the nature theme for this class, I thought about some old photos that I’ve shown you guys before, that I did during a still life exercise for my Digital I class last semester. I’ve been in love with these photos since then, and I was happy to try them out in a different process. I feel like when I do alternative process printing, I have a different aesthetic that I go for. I like the more “oddities” and “antique” looking subjects. Nature always works, too, but I’m really happy when I can combine the two, and I feel like these photos got it. Maybe that’s why I like them so much.

Aside from these being my favorites, this process also worked like a charm in the class. I had a little trouble with the cyanotype processing, which was disappointing, and palladium (which I’ll show you soon!) was a really time consuming process, which took a little of the fun out of it. With the light boxes in class, these worked quick, and turned out great. I used Arches Cover paper, and really enjoy the result I got from it. There is a bit of a waiting process, if you’re thinking of trying this out and don’t like waiting. Per suggestions made by my professor, it’s best to double coat your paper, waiting at least a day or two between coats, and then waiting an additional few days before printing. This allows the paper to really absorb the chemistry, and will provide you with a wide range of tones once you get to printing. So I coated during one class, had a class mate do the second coat a few days later, and printed the following week. I’m not patient, but if that was the key to these, I guess I’ll just have to get used to waiting when I try this again.

So here they are! Let me know what you think. I’m in love with them, and can’t wait to do some more. Maybe I can sneak in over the summer and do some printing? I may just have to find out if that’s a possibility. Enjoy!

Luckily for me, even with all the art-filled craziness which is now my life, I’ve still been trying to keep this project in mind while shooting for other things. Gotta love a two-fer when I can get one now a days. So when my digital photography professor decided that we were doing still life set ups for the next couple weeks, I was in luck.

Not only did he have bags of incredibly interesting and whimsical things, which I really enjoyed photographing, but he also had a ladder. Thanks to that, I was able to snap a few pictures for my “bird’s-eye view” theme for this week. Though a bird wouldn’t be in a photo studio, per sey, the object of the theme is to take pictures of an object or objects from a view directly above them. So we’ll just imagine that this was a really large studio…or a really small bird…or neither, whatever!

To start, I’ll share some of the non-bird’s-eye-view photos with you, because like I said, the stuff he had was just great. When I think of still life set ups for in class exercises, I think of boring things like vases, and flowers, and all the typical things that you would see in Renaissance paintings that don’t always make the best photographs. Don’t get me wrong, I love those painting, but I think I love them more for their artistry, and not for the actual items that are in the work. So, much like how I underestimated his first-day-of-class outdoor project, I underestimated this. I suppose I need to more frequently remind myself that I’m dealing with actual artists, and a college which has a great deal of things at its disposal, not a community college, or a high school, or some place that really doesn’t have a regard for making art.

So as he starting pulling out these wonderful items, and reflectors, and lights from the department, the wheels started turning. Myself and a few classmates made this lovely little whimsical set up of butterflies, antique keys, and bottles. As you can see, we weren’t the only ones who liked these things, because as I went around the room to a couple other set ups, they had a lot of the same thing going on.

Once we were working on these for a little while, that’s when the ladder came about. I suppose the fact that these are not true bird’s-eye view photos is most likely a good things. My subconscious/semi-conscious fear of heights would have probably kicked in had I ventured to the top of a building somewhere, and that would be all kinds of bad. Do you ever have those dreams where you’re in a weird, really high place, and you can’t walk and start to get all dizzy? Yes? No? Well, either way, that’s what happens to me. And while I haven’t been afraid in any real-life situations, the subconscious side of the fear pops up, and as soon as I elevate in any way I start to feel the hinting of vertigo. The fact that I’m incredibly sleep deprived probably does not help that at all; I practically fell out of my chair – wide awake, mind you — when I got to class that day. So although the ladder was a great addition to the still life thing and let us get some additional points of view, I started feeling dizzy only two steps up. Don’t worry, I’m still in one piece, and trekked all the way down the two steps back to safety. Even though there are less of these, enjoy! I’m happy about them! I mean, how could you not be happy about butterflies and antique stuff?